< Newbery Medal and Honor Books
Given the Newbery Award's prestige it would be easy to assume that the award winners are all excellent books for children. The Biblioguides Team has not found this to be the case. We always want to provide parents with the information they need to make the best book decisions for their families. With that goal in mind, we've put together a complete list of all medal winners and honor books since inception, and the Biblioguides Review Team is working together to read our way through the winners and to provide a review. Where we have not yet reviewed a book, a description directly from the dust jacket or from the publisher has been provided. In some cases, we have shared a brief synopsis from The Newbery and Caldecott Awards: A Guide to the Medal and Honor Books (1999).
Reviews are the thoughts and opinions of the particular reviewer and do not necessarily represent all members of the team. Reviews will continue to be added as the team reads more of the Newbery books. We hope this list will help you familiarize yourself with the various winners and provide the necessary information to determine which books would be a good fit for your family!
Lincoln: A Photobiography
By: Russell Freedman
Medal Winner
NOT REVIEWED
Abraham Lincoln stood out in a crowd as much for his wit and rollicking humor as for his height. Here is a warm, appealing biography af our Civil War president, illustrated with dozens of carefully chosen photographs and prints.
Russell Freedman begins with a lively account of Abraham Lincoln's boyhood, his career as a country lawyer, and his courtship and marriage to Mary Todd. Then the author focuses on the presidential years (1861 to 1865), skillfully explaining the many complex issues Lincoln grappled with as he led a deeply divided nation through the Civil War. The book's final chapter is a moving account of that tragic evening in Ford's Theatre on April 14, 1865.
Lincoln: A Photobiography concludes with a sampling of Lincoln writings and a detailed list of Lincoln historical sites.
From the dust jacket
After The Rain
By: Norma Fox Mazer
Honor
NOT REVIEWED
Rachel’s grandfather is not an easy man to love. “Who’s this?” he says, every time she calls.
“It’s me, Rachel.”
“Who?” He always says that, too.
"Ra-chel!"
“Oh, it’s you. Why are you shouting? I’m not deaf.”
“How are you, Grandpa?”
“How should I be?”
Rachel feels she should talk more to Izzy, but every conversation with him is a trial.
Then Izzy falls in the street, and the doctors discover he has cancer. He can no longer go on his beloved walks alone, and Rachel becomes his reluctant compan¬ ion. The after-school visits begin as a chore, but gradually Izzy becomes the most important thing in Rachel’s life — even more important than her friendship with Helena, her writing, and especially her new relationship with Lewis Olswanger.
Told with tremendous depth of feeling and surprising humor, After the Rain is an unforgettable portrait of two spirited human beings—one grasping at his final days, the other embarking on young womanhood.
From the dust jacket
Hatchet
By: Gary Paulsen
Honor
NOT REVIEWED
Thirteen-year-old Brian Robeson, haunted by his secret knowledge of his mother’s infidelity, is traveling by single-engine plane to visit his father for the first time since the divorce. When the plane crashes, killing the pilot, the sole survivor is Brian. He is alone in the Canadian wilderness with nothing but his clothing, a tattered windbreaker, and the hatchet his mother had given him as a present.
At first consumed by despair and self-pity, Brian slowly learns survival skills—how to make a shelter for himself, how to hunt and fish and forage for food, how to make a fire—and even finds the courage to start over from scratch when a tornado ravages his campsite. When Brian is finally rescued after fifty-four days in the wild, he emerges from his ordeal with new patience and maturity, and a greater understanding of himself and his parents.
From the publisher
